Chapter 43: Mastermo is not winning the fight
Shuang sprang forth and attacked the foxes one by one, but with each attack, the foxes that were pierced through, dispersed into smoke, however, this did not mean the number of foxes decreased cause no matter how fast he killed the foxes, they still kept on multiplying at a speed much higher than his attacking speed.
Zhihao was getting nowhere with this and the only thing that kept him from being at a disadvantage was the fact that RoRo had no plans on attacking him yet or at least it didn't look like it had any such intentions.
RoRo and his illusions circled Zhihao without showing any signs of attacking him, this scene was much alike the first time they had met the small treasure beast, the only difference this time was in the eyes of the treasure beast who, when they met for the first time, looked at them with curious innocent eyes but now faced with the beast again, Zhihao could see the killing intent in those eyes.
RoRo was glaring at Zhihao and when Zhihao looked into those thousands of glaring eyes, he was shocked that the beast hadn't attacked him yet.
On Li Ling's side, the fight was going rather well as Andy caught the deer with a rope and Li Ling killed it with his sword. Andy suddenly looked at the sight of the dead deer lying in front of him and then back at Li Ling, he couldn't help but have his mouth hang open with an expression that could only be summed up as utter confusion.
"Didn't Mastermo tell us not to kill the treasure beasts?" Andy asked.
Li Ling, "This one is okay to kill."
The three individual teams had three missions, three beasts to catch—the illusion owl which was already caught and the other two being RoRo, who was fighting against Zhihao and The immortal turtle who was fighting against Kaoru, hence these three were the only beasts who were cautioned not to kill but the rest? They can be killed if the player wants to.
When Li Ling looked at Andy, he could sense the sympathy the player felt for the treasure beast that was lying dead on the floor, "It's just a game. Not real life."
Andy looked away, "I know, but still..."
Li Ling found it funny that a player could have sympathy for such in-game characters that were made to be killed. Most of the players, when faced with a beast they were not tasked to protect, would end up killing it on a whim. That was like the basics of gaming, according to noobs and even some pro-gamers believed that—to kill anything that doesn't look human, in fact, it wasn't even about being human or not because most players who played street races would purposely go hitting the pedestrians inside the game because they found it to be fun.
"You should stop thinking like that." It was an advice Li Ling had shared from personal experience.
If a player needed to get anywhere in a game, to be more exact, anywhere in T.I.A.D. they would first need to let go of stupid feelings such as sympathy and empathy for the in-game characters.
Andy nodded as if he understood and would keep it in mind, but Li Ling knew that the player had not really understood what Li Ling wanted to say and this further interested Li Ling. He wanted to know what this player was capable of. It could almost be considered as Li Ling rooting for such a player—if this man could reach the final level of T.I.A.D. with this behavior, Li Ling would be proud of him since Li Ling understood him.
Li Ling had also been one of those people who considered in-game characters from T.I.A.D. as real-life characters, feeling emotions for them, but in the same sense, he was also different from such players cause he could put his emotions aside and still kill the in-game characters even if he felt pity for them.
"Let's go back." Li Ling spoke and retraced their steps back to the main area where the fight had started, only now did he realize that they had come too far out into the forest and the way back was way longer than expected.
When they finally reached the fighting area, things were not looking good. On three directions were three players fighting the last three remaining beasts and it didn't seem like the players were winning, but they weren't losing either, they were just fighting. It almost looked like the three treasure beasts were playing with the players, a scene, neither Andy nor Li Ling expected to see.
For Andy it came as a huge shock when he saw Mastermo struggling with the fox because, in his mind, Mastermo was already considered to be someone at the top of the list, someone who was supposed to clear every level with ease—he had always felt like this man was at a position unreachable, so high that he could not even afford to dream about reaching that high.
Li Ling reacted first, "You go help Kaze17 and I'll help Mastermo."
Andy nodded in agreement and headed towards Kaoru who was fighting against the huge immortal turtle.
Aunt Su, who had noticed the two players coming, screamed when she saw them, thinking that they'd take pity on her and see that she was the one in the most unfortunate situation, but when she saw the two players go to the other players in order to help them, her expression turned ugly.
"What the hell?! Am I invisible to you?!" Aunt Su roared out but she was ignored.
Li Ling had seen her and heard her, but he just didn't like the woman so there was no way he'll want to help her. Andy had also noticed her struggling but when he saw the beast she was fighting, he decided not to help her because it was useless. They only needed to catch the immortal turtle and the mission would be completed and they would be thrown out of the level. That was the only thing they needed to focus on and Aunt Su was fighting a rather useless fight with a treasure beast that she could just kill.
Sadly, Aunt Su was unaware that she was fighting a useless fight. Her brain just hadn't thought of the possibility where she could simply kill the beast. In her mind, she only recalled the words, "If you kill it, we are never completing the mission."
This made it harder, it was easier to kill a beast than to fight it while also trying to keep it alive. This was what Aunt Su was struggling with the most. How was she supposed to attack the beast without killing it?
The rest of the players didn't have enough time to inform Aunt Su that she can kill the white lion, they didn't have the time because they had more pressing matters in need of their attention.
Li Ling joined Zhihao in hopes of helping him, but when he looked around, his eyes went wide as he realized the exact situation Zhihao was in. It wasn't that RoRo was being kind enough not to attack, but the small treasure beast was actually planning its attack. It was encircling them and multiplying in numbers not because the beast wanted to trick them or play around with them but because it was preparing its attack.
"A-Zhi, look out." Li Ling warned out and at that moment RoRo had finished preparing its attack.
Zhihao was quick to react and in an instant, he activated the moon goddess spellbook which sucked in it, the two players who were almost killed.
All the replications of the fox burst into smoke, but it wasn't normal smoke. When Zhihao looked down at the grass and the trees around, a shiver ran down his spine as he realized he was seconds away from being melted. If it weren't for Li Ling's warning, he was as good as a dead man. Blindly believing the beast won't attack, just how stupid was he? Zhihao really wanted to slap himself.
The smoke was toxic and whatever it touched melted away, leaving behind nothing but a black residue, however, it wasn't the end of it, the black residue started emitting even more smoke and this time the smoke was darker in color and when the two smoke mixed together, it caused a series of explosion.
Zhihao thanked Li Ling in his heart, if it hadn't been for him, Zhihao was as good as a melted man who had exploded into nothingness.
When the smoke had cleared, the two players were released from the moon goddess spellbook, and once out in the open again, Zhihao glared at the fox named RoRo, this time there was only one fox left and the rest had all become smoke.
"I should've never trusted a fox." Zhihao cursed, not only to the fox but also to himself.
RoRo was nothing more than a bunch of computer codes so it was only natural that it didn't know what Zhihao was talking about.
Kaoru, even with the help of Andy, did not have it any easier. The turtle would recede into its shell before the attack could hit it. The two players were so busy attacking the turtle together that they had forgotten to communicate with each other and come up with a plan. If they had come up with a plan together, it would've been much easier, but the two were too into gaming that they had forgotten all about creating plans.
The turtle didn't attack back, but it still tried to step over them, stomp them to death, however, the players weren't that easily killed, it could only be considered as a mere inconvenience for the players.
Kaoru, "We can't beat it like this."
"I guessed." Andy responded with a frown, "Why is this beast so hard to kill?"
"Let's take a step back." Kaoru stopped attacking the beast and did as he said, taking a step back from the fight, "Mastermo, do you think you can help us out here?"
It was selfish of Kaoru to make such a request and he was deeply ashamed of it, but he didn't have any other plan, he had no idea what he was supposed to do next and Mastermo who had become his new idol was just a few meters away from him, so of course he'll try his luck and ask the man to help him.
Mastermo heard Kaoru but didn't bother to respond, there was no way he could help them in the current situation. He was already fighting against RoRo and this treasure beast, although small in size was a rather handful.
"Why are you like this? Can't you fight on your own?" Andy sounded angry at Kaoru, he was not amused by the way Kaoru had just stepped back and called out for help like this.
If Andy had known that Kaoru was fighting with this damned turtle for far longer than he expected, he would've come to understand the player. Andy had only recently joined the fight and was unaware of how long Kaoru had been previously struggling for.
Kaoru was embarrassed, he wouldn't have called for help like this, calling for help was his last option but he was just... Too tired from fruitlessly attacking the beast.
Li Ling also heard Kaoru and looked over, feeling pity for the two players who were fighting against the immortal turtle.
Li Ling, "Andy, use the rope."
Andy was shocked to suddenly receive commands so he looked over at the player in confusion, "What?"
Li Ling, "The rope. Use it to create a trap and catch it."
"How the hell am I supposed to do that?!" Andy was rather new to the gaming world so it was only natural that he didn't know what exactly he had to do at this moment.
"The trees." Although Li Ling's answer was short, it was to the point and Kaoru understood it in an instant.
His eyes twinkled with the idea.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
cherlyswan
cherlyswan This level is almost at an end (T-T)
So you know what you should do?
You should donate some power stones.
\(^~^)/
If you read the story this far, I'm sure you don't dislike it so...
I love you~
Just reminding you ;)
Gifts
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received Weekly Power Status
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-- Power
stone